Club 80-90 Forums

A T25 has recently appeared in the "Vehicles For Sale" section which has had some coolant pipes replaced with Alkathene. I have just found out this is what mains water supply pipes are made of.
I find it quite hard to believe , maybe its just an emergency repair, but would like to know if anyone else has used it?
Any good?
Paul

I have read of folk using it before now.

I used to make lobster pots with Alkathene water piping - it is very tough although the heat capabilities weren't tested!

What about using csst pipe? Corrugated stainless steel tubing used for gas. I think you can get it around 32mm diameter... Easily bent to shape... Anyone know how you would do connections at both ends?

I've got a piece of 65mm corrugated stainless pipe - it is a b*gger to weld as it is far thinner than you'd expect. I reckon it would be too much trouble to make it worthwhile. I don't know what it would do for the water flow either - I reckon that it would be impeded somewhat, after all there is only one little pump pushing the coolant around.

Hmmm..... mine are rusted as b*gry, so was considering if I could use owt other than metal, cos they're £200 a pop.... interesting!!

I have looked at convoluted silicone hose in the past, but at £40/mtr, it's more expensive than the BW SS pipes!

Years ago I replaced the rusty leaky pipes on my 1.6D T25 with pipes I purchased from my local Pirtec hydraulic pipe supplier, ask for a fairly thin semi flexible pipe, it will stand both temperature and pressure, it worked perfectly on mine and I fitted (from memory) without removing the diesel tank, just threaded them over the top. They also have really good hose clips. Think the pipe was black with a blue line thru it from memory ( it was over twenty five years ago)

Would that be the same black hydraulic pipe used on tractors and farm equipment jcbs etc?

When I raced bangers in the late 80s early 90s we used the yellow gas pipes (the gas board obviously didn't want them as they just left them by the side of the road) to supply the radiators which were relocated in the rear window/boot.

They stood up to the pressure, heat and abrasion very well. The radiators themselves didn't and were known for occasionally failing in an impressively scalding way.

Just filled up my cooling system and all of the water promptly leaked out through two massive holes in the steel pipes.
Don't really want to spend lots of money on stainless ones at this stage.... maybe some day.

What about this silicone pipe? Would it do the job and how long do you think it would last?
It would take about 2.14 metres for each pipe, so a five metre length should be more than enough to do both.... £79, not bad considering stainless pipes would be more than twice the price and harder to fit.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-1-Ply-Sil ... 2c71a2d7c4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



OR
this stuff for £31

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EPDM-SAEJ20R3 ... 2ecb7f01cc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


OR try to find some alkathene pipe which would probably be a bit cheaper still - not sure how well the alkathene would seal with clamps as I'm guessing it would be a bit rigid? I've read that alkathene (MDPE) is only good up to about 90 degrees C so it would be on the limit in a van.

What should I go for?

Guys

I'm at the point where I've had to move the long pipe to get to a brake connector and the pipe is badly damaged and has got to be replaced, do you know the diameter of pipe to order ? After all these years have passed since these vans were designed surely something else is suitable to replace the original metal pipes.



regards
Al
1988 1.9 Petrol DG

As an old hippy friend of mine (who used to ride a trike) once told me:

"If you want car bits, go to a bike shop. If you want bike bits go to a car shop" Its dead true.

In short it means, move away from anything labelled specifically for a Volkswagen and if you look carefully enough you'll not only find something cheaper, but better.

I think the pipe is 32mm diameter.

Just re read my request, it's not metal its some sort of plastic. I'll have to find some way of measuring although it does seem to have a step in it to allow the clip to sit tight.